Bike trauma (OUAH)
by J-Farraday
Summary: Gaster's adoptive children, Sam and Piper, are having fun with their new bikes in the park, and his girlfriend Patty's watching over them. But despite her warning, the kids act careless, and a small accident triggers some of Patty's memories and she passes out. At home, Gaster tries to make her feel better. (Sequel to "Once Upon A Handplate". Asgore's a helping friend.)


**This short story takes place a month or so after my "Once Upon A Handplate" fanfic. If you haven't read it, you'll get confused. Just know that my stories compose my AU (or AT) of "Handplates".**

**Disclaimer: I don't own "Undertale" and its characters, they belong to Toby Fox. "Handplates" and its version of Gaster belong to Zarla. I just own Patty, Sam and Piper.**

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Patty was watching Sam and Piper riding their new bikes around the park. She was somewhat tense as her gaze followed the kids attentively. She thought that buying them bikes was a bad idea to begin with. The twins have been begging Noelle, their mom, to buy it for them for a long while. But their mother had been reluctant about it at first because since she never had one herself, she couldn't teach them how to ride a bike. Eventually, Noelle had agreed to buy the bikes at the condition Gaster was okay with that. It was pretty recently that Gaster gave his approval to the idea. Patty suspected that it was because he was dating her, the only person around who could ride a bike and thus teach it to the twins. Patty was very uncomfortable about it, but she agreed to teach the riding just to make Sam and Piper happy. And so here they were now, after two weeks of training. The kids were doing pretty good; they couldn't ride too fast yet (which in Patty's opinion was a good thing), but they were doing so more surely and steadily than a couple of days ago. And yet, Patty couldn't help but fidget a little in nervouseness on the bench. She was too worried that the kids would fall and hurt themselves.  
"Howdy, Patty!" - a familiar deep male voice suddenly startled her a little.  
The cat monster looked up at her right and saw the king of monsters standing there with a warm smile on his face, and wearing his casual attire. Patty managed a little smile and replied:  
"Hello, Your Mejesty. How are you doing?"  
"Things are well for me, thank you." - Asgore replied as he sat down next to Patty - "Just like for my family."  
"Where are they right now?" - Patty asked out of curiousity.  
"Toriel went shopping in the city. Asriel and Chara stayed at home. My son is busy studying, or so he said. I suspect it was an excuse to not go shopping with his mother." - Asgore said with an amused chuckle, which made Patty giggle as well - "At least he'll help his sister to study. Chara needs to improve her grades in some subjects."  
"We've all been there at some point." - Patty replied with a shrug before adding - "Well, except Gaster I guess."  
"You're right! That's definitely not an issue Gaster knew." - Asgore agreed, before asking - "And how are things doing at your home? Is all okay between you and Gaster?"  
"Y-Yes, everything's well." - Patty blushed a little - "Being with him feels nice."  
"Hm-hm... And is Gaster taking good care of you?" - Asgore asked in mild concern - "You're not missing anything, right?"  
"Gaster is honestly the first person to give me all I need. Well, the first since the death of my parents, I mean." - Patty replied with a slightly melancholic look, before it turned back into a smile - "Don't worry, Your Majesty. I'm happy living with Gaster… and his kids."  
Asgore nodded. He was obviously curious how the relationship between Gaster and his girlfriend was going. Sure, he wanted the man he saw as his son to be happy. But he wanted Patty to be happy too, and thus Asgore was a bit concerned that the relationship with Gaster may not fully satisfy her. Asgore knew too well of Gaster's issues, notably his emotional unavailability. The king had to admit that it did improve lately, Gaster's love for Sam and Piper having helped him to open up more. However, a romantic relationship was still a totally new ground for Gaster, and this was why Asgore wondered if the emotionally scarred skeleton was doing things right.  
"Are you alright, Your Majesty?" - Patty asked, tilting her head curiously - "Your mind seems gone on the moon."  
"All's fine, don't worry." - Asgore quickly reassured her - "I was just wondering if Sam and Piper were adapting well to you dating their father and living with them."  
"Yeah, I suppose." - the cat monster replied - "They're still a bit shy around me, but we often do things together. I recently taught them how to ride a bike. See them over there?"  
Patty pointed at them so Asgore could see how well they were doing in riding their new bikes. The king of monsters smiled at the sight of the kids, glad to see them having fun. The twins soon noticed Asgore sitting next to Patty from the distance, and Patty waved to them as in inviting them to come closer. It didn't take long before the kids rode to the bench.  
"Howdy, Asgore!" - Sam greeted the fluffy king in his manner.  
"Hello, Asgore!" - Piper said on her turn - "Did you see us? We can ride a bike now!"  
"Yes, and you're very capable." - Asgore replied with his usual warm fatherly smile - "So, it's Patty who taught you that?"  
"She did!" - Sam confirmed.  
"Yep! And Mom and Dad bought us those cool bikes!" - Piper added - "We've been begging for those for a while, and finally Dad accepted!"  
"It was a good decision. You two deserve the gift." - the king replied with a nod.  
"Hey, I have an idea. Shall we have a race, Piper?" - Sam suddenly said to his sister.  
"No, you won't!" - Patty exclaimed alarmingly - "You're not ready yet, you need to improve-"  
"Relax Patty, we've got this." - Sam said easily - "We can keep balance well, so it's all easy from there."  
"I don't know, maybe she's right..?" - Piper said with a worried look.  
"Come on sis, you're not afraid to lose against me, are you?" - Sam said with a challenging tone as he sat down on the seat of his bike.  
"Me, afraid? Never!" - Piper replied as defiantly and with a short sigh, took position on her own bike.  
Patty grew more anxious at this, and before she had the chance to protest, Sam yelled "Go!" and the twins already drove away. Asgore shook his head, while Patty breathed out longly in nervousness.  
"Why don't they listen to me..?" - she said.  
"Kids are kids, I'm afraid." - Asgore commented - "I just hope they don't hurt themselves."  
It was right after the king's words that something happened. Sam's bike rode on some bump, and due to the speed, the boy couldn't properly control it. His trajectory deviated and with a short scream, he hit a big garbage can, and the shock made him fall from the bike. As her golden eyes widened, Patty let out a terrified scream. Asgore reacted very quickly. He rushed to the boy lying on the ground and as the king knelt down, he said:  
"Oh Sam, you shouldn't be so careless..!"  
"I... I'm sorry..." - Sam replied with a trembling voice.  
"He's bleeding…" - Piper commented.  
"Ouch, those are nasty scratches…" - Asgore commented, before his furry hands glowed in a green light that he laid over the boy's body - "You're lucky i'm here, I can heal you in no time."  
Within a minute, all the scratches and bruises Sam had on his body vanished. Once healed, Sam stood up and looked up at Asgore with a grateful, yet remorseful look.  
"Thank you, Asgore... and I'm sorry."  
"As you should be." - the goat monster reprimanded him - "I hope that from now on you will obey your elders?"  
"I will." - Sam nodded.  
"I know that Patty's not your mother, but this doesn't mean you mustn't take her words seriously. She's ridden a bike before, so she certainly knows better." - Asgore went on - "Where is she, by the way..?"  
"Asgore!" - Piper said called for him.  
Asgore and Sam turned their heads and their eyes widened. Piper was standing right next to Patty… who was lying unconscious. Asgore and Sam hurried back to the earlier spot and then Asgore picked the cat monster up bridal style. That didn't wake Patty. The kids looked up at their great-grandfather with worried expressions.  
"She passed out… Sam's accident probably scared her too much." - Asgore said - "Come on, we must take her back to your home."  
The twins nodded in response. After they took their bikes, they all proceeded to head back to their house. It didn't take long before they finally arrived and as they did, Piper knocked hurriedly on the door. Gaster opened the door and his good eye widened when he saw Patty unconscious in Asgore's arms.  
"Oh gosh, Patty..!" - he reached his hand to cup the cat's face - "What happened to her?"  
As they all walked in, Asgore quickly explained what happened in the park. Gaster turned to his son, who immediately felt ashamed once more under his father's glare.  
"We'll talk about this later." - Gaster said, then looked at his daughter and added - "With __both__ of you."  
Piper lowered her gaze and her cheeks reddened in shame. The race idea wasn't hers but she still encouraged it by accepting Sam's challenge. The twins then slowly walked upstairs, while glancing worriedly a couple of times at the unconscious Patty. Gaster then looked up at the king and said:  
"Lie her down on the couch..."  
"Oh, right."  
Asgore approached the purple couch and laid Patty down on it, not without placing a pillow under her head. The king had a thoughtful expression on his face. Sure, it was normal to worry for a child's safety, but passing out for this long? And thus he wondered what triggered this excessive reaction. Gaster then approached with a quilt which he used to cover Patty up to her shoulders. The skeleton then sat down right next to her, looking at her with a concered and pondering look.  
"Ugh... Maybe I shouldn't have bought those bikes after all..." - he then said - "I should've guessed that you weren't as okay with this as you claimed..."  
"Gaster?" - Asgore said, making the skeleton look up at his king - "Do you know why she passed out..?"  
"You see, before being placed in the psychiatry ward, Patty had experienced a grave road accident." - Gaster answered - "She... She was riding her bike on the public highway, and since her... __condition__ wasn't treated back then, she failed to see the traffic lights. Patty kept riding forward and got hit by a car from her right."  
"Oh my goodness..." - Asgore's blue and orange eyes widened, and he brought his hand to his mouth - "Now I understand better why she lost consciousness. Her accident surely traumatized her..."  
"It did." - Gaster replied with a nod - "Patty never rode her bike ever since."  
Patty's face started to twitch slightly. She started to let out small groans and her face started to sweat. Gaster leaned closer to her, before requesting to Asgore:  
"Your Majesty... if that's not much to ask... may you please make some tea in the kitchen?"  
Tea was usually efficient to calm agitated nerves. Gaster would've went make it himself, but he had a feeling Patty needed him more next to her. After all, his children preferred when he was at their side when they were sick. Asgore replied with a nod:  
"Of course, Gaster. How does she drink it?"  
"Two sugar cubes and cream." - Gaster replied, his eyes never leaving his girlfriend.  
Right at this moment, Patty's eyes flew open and she let out a cry. Asgore grew immediately concerned, but Gaster gave him a silent sign to go and that he'd handle this. Reluctantly, the king went in the kitchen. Gaster gently held Patty as she clutched into the fabric of his grey turtleneck and started to speak erratically, on edge of tears.  
"It hurts..! It hurts so much..!" - she was saying, as the pace of her breathing quickened - "Everything's in pain, please help me..!"  
"Patty, there was no accident, you're at home." - Gaster said, rubbing her shoulders as gently as he could - "You're home, and you're safe."  
"No... No, no, I feel it... the pain's there, it hurts..!"  
"Patty, look at me..!" - Gaster ordered and shook her just a little, to snap her out of her ravings.  
Patty stopped talking and looked in Gaster's eyes with more focus. With a gentler tone, the skeleton said:  
"You're not hurt, Patty. You are home."  
"...Home." - Patty repeated the last word as she processed.  
Then, as she finally came back to reality, she let out a sigh and tears flowed down her cheeks. Patty burried her face in Gaster's chest and started to cry uncontrollably. Gaster looked down at her and after a moment, wrapped his arms around her.  
"It's alright, Patty... It's alright. You're safe."  
"It felt so real... I was reliving the accident all over again..." - Patty said in between her sobs - "I thought I was still out there... lying on the concrete ground..."  
"It's all long over, Patty. It's over." - Gaster said softly as he tightened his embrace around her.  
The two sat there for a few moments, until Patty's grip on Gaster loosened a little. Gaster pulled away and proceeded to wipe the tears from Patty's face away. The cat woman was still shuddering a little. Gaster sighed and said:  
"Patty... please tell me about that day. Tell me about the accident."  
"I... I don't want to talk about this..." - Patty replied nervously.  
"I know you don't. But... maybe you'll feel better if you do?" - Gaster suggested - "The queen always told me that speaking up our feelings helps us to feel better."  
"But you've never followed her advice... did you?"  
"I didn't. And that's exactly why I ended up doing illegal science." - Gaster said seriously with a hint of sadness - "But you're a more open person than me, Patty. So please, talk to me. Tell me more of what happened that day."  
Patty averted her gaze. She hadn't really spoken with him about this before. She's always tried to avoid this topic, because just thinking about the accident made her anxious. And seeing that it made her uncomfortable, Gaster never insisted, neither did he ask that often in the first place. But now, it was important. Gaster wanted to know what his girlfriend went through exactly. His rational self knew that it wouldn't change anything, that he couldn't do anything about it. But some part of his SOUL stinged knowing that something made Patty suffer. And thus he just needed to know, to understand better.  
"I don't quite recall where I was driving that day..." - Patty spoke up with a hoarse voice - "But I do remember a sudden shock from my right. I remember something very hard hitting me, making me fly up. It all happened too fast, the next thing I knew was me lying on the hard ground. I could hear sharp horns and then some voices. I couldn't tell who was saying what, my vision quickly faded... All was dark and sounds were very distant. But what I could feel distinctly was pain... Pretty much everything was hurting... My whole body was in pain, it was as though I was being stabbed at several places at once. It was... It was just terrible, I thought I'd die right then and there..."  
Another tear slid down her cheek, and the cat woman inhaled shakily. Gaster's eye sockets glowed yellow for a brief moment. He knew one thing or two about pain. And the image of Patty being injured the way she's been was a pretty scary one.  
"I don't know how long this all lasted, nor what happened next... But then, I came back from the dark in an all white hospital room. It took me a moment to process what happened and... that almost all my limbs were encasted." - Patty said as she sniffed and wiped away another tear - "My right arm and my both legs have been broken, along with a couple of ribs. I couldn't move from my bed for weeks and my torso stinged. It were the worst weeks of my entire life. ...But not as terrible as the pain I knew the day of the accident..."  
Patty put her face in her hands, the memory being too much for her. Gaster immediately brought her closer to him and slid his hand in her blonde hair. This made Patty lean against his torse again. She wasn't crying as hard as the first time, but many tears did fall. Rather than sobbing, she was mostly sniffing.  
"Shh, it's okay..." - Gaster said softly, as he started to gently and slowly rub her scalp - "You don't have to tell me more. I can't imagine how it was for you... but I wish that I could erase this part of your life."  
"I wish I could just forget this..." - Patty said.  
"You may never forget, but you're safe now. And I'll make sure nothing terrible like this happens to you ever again." - Gaster swore.  
Patty's embrace tightened around her partner. No more words were exchanged and it wasn't necessary. Very soon, Gaster's ministrations on her scalp got its effect, and Patty started to purr. She just couldn't help it, it was a natural reaction for her. She'd always purr when her scalp was gently rubbed like this, which made her relax. Patty started to doze off, but she could feel faintly Gaster gently press his teeth to her temple.  
Asgore watched the scene from the kitchen doorframe with a smile on his face. He's been observing the couple for a while now, the tea being long ready. __"Gaster really has improved, after all..."__ \- he mused. What he just saw chased away his worries about Gaster not being able to handle his relationship with Patty. Gaster wasn't a perfect man, but Asgore could tell that he truly loved Patty and that he'd take a good care of her. __"I guess I should go give Patty that tea…"__ \- Asgore remembered - __"Or Gaster'll get suspicious."__ Waiting no longer, Asgore went out of the kitchen with the mug in his hand. Gaster looked up at the king and said:  
"It took you quite a while to make that tea... Were you spying on us?"  
"Me..? I... I wasn't spying." - Asgore replied with embarrassement, before smiling - "But I may have been... __admiring__ you two."  
"It was supposed to be a private moment, Your Majesty..." - Gaster sighed with a blush, before gently shaking Patty.  
"...Huh..?" - she asked, having been dozing.  
"Sorry to disturb your nap, but... would you like a cup of tea?" - Asgore asked, handing her the mug.  
"Gladly, Your Majesty." - Patty answered, as she took the mug in her own hands - "Thank you."  
As the cat monster hummed in pleasure at her first sip, Asgore and Gaster exchanged a peaceful look. With a smile, Asgore seemed to silently tell Gaster to take good care of this woman. Catching the message, Gaster replied with a small nod. __"I'll never let anything hurt Patty."__ \- Gaster mentally swore again as he turned his head back at his beloved - __"Never."__

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**A/N: Since there already are two one-shots where Patty comforts Gaster and helps him with his insecurities, I wanted to show you that she's not the one who always deals with his problems, that the care is mutual. Gaster too cares for Patty's feelings and comforts her when she's not okay. Simple as that. :)**


End file.
